A fresh look at the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms. Though often overlooked, Grover Cleveland was a significant figure in American presidential history. Having run for President three times and gaining the popular vote majority each time -- despite losing the electoral college in 1892 -- Cleveland was unique in the line of nineteenth-century Chief Executives. In this book, presidential historian Henry F. Graff revives Cleveland's fame, explaining how he fought to restore stature to the office in the wake of several weak administrations. Within these pages are the elements of a rags-to-riches story as well as an account of the political world that created American leaders before the advent of modern media. As part of the "American Presidents" series under the editorial direction of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., distinguished historian Graff (America: The Glorious Republic, to 1877) offers new insight into a President who is often overlooked. Best known as the only President to serve two nonconsecutive terms, Cleveland does indeed deserve Graff's fresh examination. The 1888 Presidential election was marked by one of the earliest and most virulent attacks on the personal behavior of a candidate when Cleveland was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. But the candidate took full responsibility for the child (an act Graff refers to as "the gold standard" for such circumstances), and in the end the incident did not cause Cleveland to lose the election. Graff's examination of the 1888 election is one of the finest short reviews of that peculiar race available. Cleveland had a narrow view of the President's powers and did not exert the more expansive leadership that would characterize later Presidents. But he was an able administrator and pursued a clean-government agenda. This slim volume is a valuable addition to the literature on the Presidency and is a compelling argument for taking Cleveland seriously as a President. For political collections of public libraries. Michael A. Genovese, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. History professor Graff points out that whatever public remembrance exists for Grover Cleveland rests almost entirely on his unique role as the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms in the White House. In this latest addition to the publisher's American Presidents series, the basics of Cleveland's life and career are presented with workable, even admirable, concision. Cleveland rose quickly through New York State politics, establishing himself early on as "a straight arrow." Political reform was in the air, and "Cleveland, the politician of integrity, manifestly was riding with the wind of change at his back." Notice of his honesty and integrity spread nationwide, and he was elected president in 1884. Defeated for reelection in 1888, Cleveland recovered the Oval Office in 1892, and even though his interpretation of the role of president generally fit into the late-nineteenth-century mold of rather passive leadership, he nonetheless earned the admiration of the American public during his two administrations. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "In this brief, excellent volume written for Arthur Schlesinger's American Presidents series, Columbia professor emeritus Graff ( The Tuesday Cabinet ) picks up the often neglected Grover Cleveland, dusts him off and reminds us how substantial he was. " - Publishers Weekly Henry F. Graff is a professor emeritus of history at Columbia University, where he taught his pioneering seminar on the presidency. The author of The Tuesday Cabinet and the reference work The Presidents , he is a frequent commentator on radio and television. He lives in New York. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. , (1917-2007) was the preeminent political historian of our time. For more than half a century, he was a cornerstone figure in the intellectual life of the nation and a fixture on the political scene. He won two Pulitzer prizes for The Age of Jackson (1946) and A Thousand Days (1966), and in 1988 received the National Humanities Medal. He published the first volume of his autobiography, A Life in the Twentieth Century , in 2000. 1 Early Years Cleveland was baptized Stephen Grover, but he never used the Stephen after he grew up. He was the fifth of the nine children and third son of the Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal, a native of Baltimore. There her father, Abner Neal, made a living as a bookseller and publisher of law books. He and his family had emigrated recently from Ireland, possibly fleeing the consequences of involvement in the 1798 uprising against the British crown. Ann’s mother, Barbara Reel, was a Quaker of German background from Germantown, Pennsylvania. The new baby, then, like his siblings, would be regarded as a “typical” American—an amalgam of English, Irish, and German stock.The father of the future president was a Yale